Strength for the ChallengeSample

Those Who Need a Doctor

As a rabbi, Jesus chose unlikely followers. After taking on a group of fishermen as His disciples, Jesus reached down to the dregs of society to call Levi, a tax collector. Collecting taxes was not an honorable profession in Jesus’ day. As agents of the Roman empire, tax collectors took money from their fellow Jews to give to Caesar. Many collected more than was necessary, and then depended on the might of Rome to keep them safe from reprisal. They were viewed as traitors and prohibited from entering the synagogue. And yet, here was Jesus, calling tax collectors to follow Him, dining with them openly. As a rabbi, Jesus should have known better. Religious elites like the Pharisees were more than confused—they were angry! And in their anger, they completely missed what Jesus said about the sick needing a doctor. Tax collectors were undoubtedly part of the sickness Jesus came to cure, but so were the Pharisees. Jesus came to call all to repentance, from the bottom of society to the top. The bottom-dwellers tend to know they are sick; those at the top often have no clue. Fortunately, Jesus is still making house calls. He is ready to heal anyone who comes to Him in humility. The treatment will cost everything, but the sickness leads only to death.